Universality in ant behaviour

Christensen, Kim; Papavassiliou, Dario; De Figueiredo, Alexandre; Franks, Nigel R.; Sendova-Franks, Ana B.

Abstract

© 2014 The Authors. Prediction for social systems is a major challenge. Universality at the social level has inspired a unified theory for urban living but individual variation makes predicting relationships within societies difficult. Here, we show that in ant societies individual average speed is higher when event duration is longer. Expressed as a single scaling function, this relationship is universal because for any event duration an ant, on average, moves at the corresponding average speed except for a short acceleration and deceleration at the beginning and end. This establishes cause and effect within a social system and may inform engineering and control of artificial ones.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2015
• Deposit Date: Nov 20, 2014
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 10, 2016
• Journal: Journal of the Royal Society Interface
• Print ISSN: 1742-5689
• Publisher: Royal Society, The
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 12
• Issue: 102
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2014.0985
• Keywords: ant behaviour, behaviour, universality, ants
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/841216
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2014.0985
• Contract Date: Feb 10, 2016